Church’s costs to insure take off

MADURA MCCORMACK

DIVINE intervention will be needed to save hundreds of holy Far North properties when the next major disaster strikes the region, as the Anglican Diocese of North Queensland reveals it can no longer afford to insure its buildings.

Bishop Keith Joseph said the diocese had expected its insurance premiums to double after the catastrophic Townsville floods, but in October was told the price had quintupled.

“It was a bit of a shock,” Bishop Joseph said. “We were looking at premiums going up from $500,000, including our schools, to $2.65 million.”

Without the schools, the insurance premium would be $900,000.

Bishop Joseph revealed the diocese’s dilemma at an insurance forum in front of Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar and north Queensland MPs Phillip Thompson, George Christensen and Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch.

It was one of many forums that have been held by politicians in recent years as north Queensland grapples with unaffordable insurance coverage due to premiums that have soared 130 per cent in the last decade. Bishop Joseph said the diocese had about 250 properties worth a total of $125 million.

Parishes have been asked to increase their contributions normally paid to insurers by 50 per cent this year, and 100 per cent next year. This will go into a pool that the diocese will use to fix up damaged buildings when needed.

“This is extraordinarily risky but we just haven’t got $900,000 a year to spend on insurance and that’s money that’s lost every year,” Bishop Joseph said.

“We’re not taking this decision lightly. We know that it’s incredibly risky and that if we have a major event we are going to be faced with closing a lot of buildings.

“It’s often said, in a small town the last thing to close is the pub and the church, and we’re approaching that, with a lot of insurance premiums that we can’t afford to maintain on a lot of country churches.”

Mr Entsch said the diocese’s situation was a sign of insurance market failure.

“It’s time that we stopped doing reviews, we stopped doing inquiries … it’s time now to start taking some serious action because it’s only going to get worse,” Mr Entsch said.